1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to quilting. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system for quilting which allows a person to operate a computer controlled quilting machine with a freehand input device, and which allows the quilting machine to sew while following the movement of the input device in real time.
2. State of the Art
Quilting has been both a craft and a hobby for hundreds of years, if not longer. Typically, quilting involves making a quilt or another object from one or more pieces of fabric and may include a soft batting placed between layers of cloth. The pieces of cloth may even be sewn from smaller pieces of cloth in a decorative pattern. The actual quilting of the object is accomplished by sewing through the cloth layers and batting to both attach them together and to form a decorative pattern in the finished object. While it is understood that many objects can be quilted, the present application will primarily discuss the making of actual quilts for simplicity. It will be appreciated that the methods and devices discussed herein will apply to a variety of objects which are made in a like manner.
Traditionally, persons have performed all of the sewing by hand, without the use of a machine. As sewing machines became more commonplace, persons would often sew the two cloth pieces by hand if a decorative pattern is used, and would then perform the quilting by hand. As quilting became more common, quilting machines became available which could perform the quilting step much more quickly and easily than can be done by hand.
While many persons prefer to quilt by hand, many other persons lack the skill, time, or physical ability to quilt by hand. Old age, physical handicaps, or arthritis prevent many persons from quilting by hand. To further allow persons who lack sufficient desire or ability to quilt by hand to be able to quilt, computer controlled quilting machines have been developed which automatically move the sewing machine relative to the quilt and sew in a predetermined pattern to sew the pattern into the quilt.
FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art computer-controlled quilting machine. The machine, sometimes called a quilting robot, typically includes rollers 10 which hold a quilt 14 so that a portion 18 of the quilt 14 is stretched tight and positioned where a sewing machine 22 is able to sew on the portion 18 of the quilt 14. The sewing machine 22 is mounted to an X-Y carriage (not shown) which uses motors to move the sewing machine in two dimensions to sew in the area 18. FIG. 2 shows a typical known X-Y carriage 42 which may be used in the system of FIG. 1. The carriage 42 includes a base 46 for mounting a sewing machine, support rods 50 which allow the base 46 to move left and right as indicated by arrow 54, and support rods 58 and brackets 62 which allow the base 46, support rods 50, and brackets 62 to move forwards and backwards as indicated by arrow 66. Typically, the base 46 and brackets 62 include rollers or the like to facilitate motion across the rods 50, 58, and motors such as stepper motors are used to move the base 46 and brackets 62 relative to the rods 50, 58.
The quilt 14 is held in a fixed location, and the carriage 42 moves the sewing machine relative to the quilt. A computer 26 controls the sewing machine 22 and carriage 42, controlling the motion, stitching, etc. The system of FIG. 1 may include a screen 30 to allow the user to select patterns and operate the quilting machine.
A person will typically purchase software which includes sewing patterns, load the patterns onto the computer 26 via a disk drive 34 or the like, and use these patterns to finish the quilt 14. The user will typically select a pattern, select how big the pattern is to be sewn on the quilt 14, move the sewing machine 22 to a fixed starting position for the pattern, and start the machine to automatically sew the pattern into the quilt 14.
While the available computer-controlled quilting machines provide significant improvements in allowing many more persons to quilt, they still have significant setbacks. For example, they typically require a person to purchase set quilting patterns in electronic format and sew these patterns into the finished object. The user can control which pattern is being used and can change the size or position of the pattern, but otherwise has very limited control over the sewing.
Some computer-controlled quilting machines allow a person to input a custom pattern, but require the person to physically move the sewing machine 22 across the area 18 of the quilt 14 to record the movements of the sewing machine 22 as a pattern into the computer. The sewing machine 22 may include handles 38 to facilitate movement of the machine. The recorded pattern can then be repeatedly sewn on the quilt 14. It is appreciated that it is difficult to physically move the sewing machine 22 across the quilt 14, as the sewing machine and X-Y carriage may weigh 50-75 pounds or more. As such, persons who have physical difficulty quilting will typically have difficulty moving the sewing machine 22 around by hand. Even if the person is able to move the sewing machine 22, the resulting pattern may be rough and uneven due to the difficulties in moving the sewing machine.
It will be appreciated that while computer-controlled quilting machines have improved the ability of many persons to quilt, they have significant limitations on what the person may quilt. Additionally, the use of a computer-controlled quilting machine eliminates the charm of a hand quilted object by providing perfectly controlled stitching and perfectly formed and generic patterns. Much of the charm of hand quilted objects is also lost due to the generic look of the patterns available for these quilting machines.
There is a need for a computer-controlled quilting machine which allows a person to easily control the sewing of the machine using freehand drawing inputs such that the machine quilts the pattern which is drawn by the person. There is a need for a quilting machine which can quilt in real time, following the freehand inputs of a user, to sew the patterns drawn by a user into a quilt or other object.